NZ Part 4: Last of NZ

Well this will be a long one. I could of spread the last of our New Zealand trip over two more posts but we need to move on :P

From Fanz Josef we drove up the west coast of NZ to Nelson, which is in the heart of wine country. It is a pretty nice little town but we were really there to explore Abel Tasman National park. Had we known the amount of accommodations that were available in Abel we would have stayed there.

The drive up the west coast was gorgeous. Unlike the rest of New Zealand which, until this point, had been merely beautiful.

Luckily the rain had stopped when we arrived in Abel Tasman. There was a great playground for the kids with a mini "flying fox" (as it is called in Australia and NZ),

Shamus is always a good big brother and helps B up on the flying fox. I don't think Shamus came off this the whole time we were at the playground.

After lunch though we realized that there was another (true) flying fox. It was pretty awesome and the kids were very excited. It was about 25 meters long and went quite fast. Breagha was getting a lot of respect from the other parents there. She was, by far, the smallest riding the flying fox but that wasn't going to stop her.

The other parents kept commenting on how brave she was.

After the playground and the "fox" we went for a little hike. Once again New Zealand astounded us with its beauty. The Abel coastline was a nice change from the mountainous west coast drive but every bit as beautiful.

There was a time when Stace and I thought that Breagha was going to be a bit of a "city girl". She just didn't seem to have an out door gene. Well that is not the case now. Breagha could not wait to get her shoes off and get dirty.

If I knew what we were looking at I still wouldn't tell you. Somethings are just private... ok?

Shamus has become a little photographer. He loves having the camera in his hands. I must say he has a pretty good eye too. I don't know what "gang sign" Breagha is throwing down here. She must have missed the memo about it being a "peace" picture.

Nothing compares to the feeling of sand between your toes. Except maybe peanut butter.

The beach was covered with these tiny shells in a couple of areas. I would say there had to be millions of them.

I believe this is another one of Shamus' pictures. Not bad for a 5 year old.

Shamus again!

Taking a bit of a breather at one of the lookouts on the trail.

As I said before I really wished we had booked accommodations in the park because we could have easily spent another day exploring.

Shamus probably shot a quarter of the pictures that day. He loves using the SLR as well. He handles it really well.

Soaking in the last rays of the evening.

As I mentioned earlier, Nelson is at the heart of wine country. Before we pushed on to Kaikoura we visited a few of the local wineries. We went quite conservative with the tasting because we had the kids with us but it was still good. It is always fun to find a new wine!

On the road out of Nelson and through Marlborough. There are some massive vineyards. We were making our way across the country to the east coast.

We continued down to Kaikoura which, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful places I have every had the pleasure to lay eyes upon. The town itself is nothing outstanding but its location and the surrounding country side is breath taking. The town is positioned on a small peninsula adjacent to a phenomenal range of mountains that pretty much drop into the ocean. There is a constant mist created by the pounding surf that lingers all day at the foot of the mountains.

I would definitely think about being sheep farmer if this was the location of my farm.

How beautiful is that view?... and the mountains are ok too!

The view from our cabin. Not too shabby.

This camping park was awesome. Great room. Pretty cheap and it had a jumping pillow for the kids.

A little stone throwing while waiting to leave for a whale watching tour.

I don't know what to think about the whale watching tour. The most common whale is a Sperm Whale (think Moby Dick). It was cool but the best parts where not the whales. Above is the view you get of the whales 90% of the time. Once they decide to dive you get a view of their tail. For the most part it just looks like a log.

Where the tour shines is in the other aquatic life you see. These dolphins were fantastic. The pod was probably 120 strong and very eager to entertain. We also saw some albatross that amazed me with how large the are.

This is what most people pay for but I still don't think it compares to the dolphins and the view of the mountains.

Another one of the wonderful tour sights was the seal colony. They have to be a contender for the cutest animal in the world.

More dolphins. These are Hector Dolphins. Their most defining feature is their rudder-like dorsal fin. If I recall they are considered endangered which is sad.

Ok so the bouncy pillow was not only for the kids.

YAAAYYYYY!!!.....NEW ZEALAND!!

P.S. As I am writing this... New Zealand "All Whites" have just completed a 1:1 draw with Italy (defending world cup champions). It was a huge game for NZ. Way to go!!